la due



s. P. LA DUE.

Time Piece.

No. 25,468. Patented sept. 13, 1859.

#W //m i a E fig. Z.

2 0 Il e N. PETERS. Pnnmmlmgmpher, wnsningiun. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

S. P. LA DUE, OF ROCKEORD, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS S. LA DUE, OF SAMEPLAGE.

CALENDAR-CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,468, dated September 13, 1859.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, S. P. La DUE, of Rockford, in the county of Floydand State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Tiinepiece; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure lrepresents a back view7 of a time piece constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of ditto partly in section.

Similar letters of reference in both views refer to corresponding parts.

This invention consists in arranging the wheels in the clock withfigures and letters in such a manner that the same by their relativeposition toward an opening, or openings, in the lower part of the caseor toward a` stationary point indicate the seconds, the minutes, thehours and the days of the week,vand those of the month, without the aidof movable hands or indexes, and these wheels, therefore, serve at thesame time as driving parts of the clock, and as dials, and hands, thosewheels being dispensed with which usually serve to operate the dials orhands; and those wheels, which indicate the hours, the days of the weekand the days of the month, are so arranged that they have anintermittent motion, keeping the respective figures or letters in viewduring the whole hour or during the whole day, the changes taking placealmost instantaneously with the wheels which indicate the days of theweek and month, and at shorter or longer intervals according to the hourthat the clock has to strike, with that wheel which indicates the hours;which latter however may also be made so as to have a continuous motion,as will be hereinafter more fully explained; and this invention alsoconsists in arranging the wheel which indicates the hours in such amanner that it serves the double purpose of indicating the time and ofactuating the bell hammer.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my time piece I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents a case, to the top of which the clock work is secured. Theverge, a, works on an arbor, o, to which the pendulum, B, is attached,and the verge engages with the pallet or escapement wheel, C,

which turns loosely on the arbor, c, between the frame P, and rigidlyattached to this arbor is a ratchet wheel, c, and a pinion, c2, and apivot, 0*, is secured to the side of the pallet, C, so that the sameopposes the motion of the arbor in the direction of arrow l, whereaswhen turned in the opposite direction, it moves independent of thearbor, and of the pinion, c2. The pendulum and the pallet are soproportioned that the pallet rotates once in three minutes and its faceis marked with figures, commencing with 0 and running up to 60, and thusthree times in the same manner. The pinion, c2, meshes into a cog-wheel,D, the diameter of which is 20 times as large as that of the pinion, c2,so that this wheel rotates once in an hour. This wheel is iirmly securedto an arbor (Z, which .has its bearings in the frame, P; and attached toits outer end is a pinion, (Z, which engages with a cog wheel E, whichturns loosely on an arbor, e, to which a ratchet wheel, e, isiirmly'attached, and a pawl, c2, which is secured to the side of the cogwheel E, catches into the ratchet wheel, causing the same together withthe arbor to rotate in one direction, whereas the wheel E can be rotatedin the other direction independent from the arbor, e. The diameter ofthe cog wheel E, is twelve times greater than that of the pinion d,which latter rotates with the wheel D once in an hour. The wheel E,will, therefore, rotate once in twelve hours, and its face is inscribedwith figures, which run from I up to XII, each ligure standing for anhour. Motion is imparted to the arbor, e, by means of a weight, F, whichis attached to a rope or cord, f, which winds on the arbor c, so thatthe teeth of the ratchet wheel, e', slide under the pawl, c2. Anotherwheel, Gr, which serves also to indicate the hours by an intermittentmotion, is attached to a tube, g, which is slipped loosely over thearbor, (Z, and which has its bearings in the frame, P, and a cord, g,winds on this tube, to which a weight, F, is attached. The wheel, G, hasseventy-eight spaces, z', cut into its circumference, some of which, z,are deeper than the others, and a latch, H, which rocks on an arbor, L,by falling into these deeper spaces, serves to arrest the wheel, whichotherwise would continue to rotate impelled by the weight F. Those partsof the wheel, Gr, between the spaces, z' z", form cogs or projections,which serve to actuate a hammer, I, so that it strikes against a bell,J, once for every cog or projection; and the deeper spaces, z', aredivided over the circumference of the wheel in such a manner that onecog stands between the first pair of deeper spaces, two cogs between thenext pair and three cogs between the next succeeding pair, and so onuntil twelve cogs or projections stand between the last pair of deeperspaces so that the hammer strikes one as the latch passes from the firstspace to the second, and two as the latch passes from the second spaceto the third and so on until it strikes twelve as the latch passes fromethe last one of the deeper spaces back to the first one.

The face of the wheel, Gr, is provided with a series of roman figures,running from I to XII which are so divided that the figure XII standsbefore the opening, K, in the front side of the case, when the latch isin the first one of the deeper spaces, i', and as it strikes one, andwhen the latch passes from the first to the second space, the figure Iis turned before the opening K, where it remains until it strikes two,when the figure II appears before the opening K, and so on until withevery fresh hour a new figure appears before the opening, K, and remainsthere to the end of the hour.

The latch H is released from the spaces, i', by means of a cam, 7c,which is secured on the shaft, CZ, and which acts on a weighted lever,L, and as the shaft cl, rotates once in an hour the latch, I-I, isreleased at the end of every hour so that the hammer strikes therequisite number of times. In order to wind up the wheel Gr it is onlynecessary to disengage the latch H from the cogs between the spaces, z',and the wheel can be turned back by hand or by means of a suitable key.Attached to the back side of the wheel, G, is the spring catch, Z, whichacts on a pallet, m, once for every revolution of the wheel, G. Thisring rotates in sockets formed by arms, N, and it is marked on its facewith 31 figures corresponding to the number of the days in some of themonths, and its back is provided with 31 cogs, 0, which are at equaldistances one from the other, and in such a position that the cam,

p n, strikes against them and that by this action the ring, M, is turnedover the space contained between two of the cogs, 0, on its back orbetween two of the figures on its face, and an opening, O, is cut out ofthe front part of the case, in such a position that the figures on theface of the ring, M, are brought before the same, one after the other,as the ring is pushed on by the action of the cam, n, on the cogs, 0.Secured to the front side of the ring, M, is another smaller ring, Q,marked with letters, which indicate the days of the week, and the numberof these letters corresponds with the number of gures on the ring, M,each of the letters being placed in line with one of the gures, and thering, Q, rests in guides, g, so that it can be rotated independent fromthe ring M.

An endless strip of cloth, R, is arranged in the lower part of the caseon pins so that it can be drawn over these pins, and that differentparts of the same can be brought in front of the case. This strip ofcloth is marked with the names of the different months in successiveorder, and secured under each of these names is the order of the days,together with the time of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, asthe same is given in the almanac for the current year.

The operation is as follows The clock is wound up and set in motion, inthe usual manner, and it will be easily understood that springs may ybeemployed for driving the same as well as weights. The several dials areset according to the hour, and to the day of the week and month, and thecase is so arranged that the required figures and letters are exposed toview: for instance, seventeen minutes past 12 oclock on the 10th day ofMay 1859 is indicated by turningthe wheel, C, so that the zero standsbefore the corresponding opening in the case, and the wheel, D, isturned so that the second cog, beyond the figure 15, appears before theopening or mark which appertains to this wheel. At the same time thefigure XII on the hour Wheel, G, will be kept before the eye of theobserver, and the figure 12 on the hour wheel, E, has passed over themarker placed in front of it. And the day being Tuesday the letter Twill be exposed through the opening in the case corresponding to thering Q, and the ring, M, is turned so that the figure 10 stands oppositethe opening O. As the clock goes on, and when it is one oclock, thelatch, H, is released from the wheel Gf, and the hammer, I, strikesonce, and the figure I appears before the opening, K, and so on untilmidnight, when, by the action of the spring catch, Z, and cam, n, thering, M, is turned so as to bring the figure 11 before the opening O,and, at the same time, the letter I/V, on the ring Q, appears instead ofthe letter T. If the month has only 30 days the ring, M, has to be seton the first of the next succeeding month, which will be easilyunderstood from the previous description, and the ring, Q, must beturned so as to make its position correspond with the ring, M.

Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. The arrangement and combination of the wheels C, D E and Gr, and therings M and Q, the faces of which are marked with the proper figures andletters, so that they indicate the seconds, the minutes, the hours, andthe days of the week and month, substantially in the manner hereinspecified.

2. Arranging the Wheel, Gr, in such a mantion, also to indicate thehours either by a ner that it serves the double purpose of accontinuousor intermittent motion substan- 10 tuating the bell hammer and toindicate the tially in the manner described. hours of the daysubstantially in the mim- 5 ner described. S' P LA DUE' 3. Placing thefigures and dials on the vWitnesses: faces of the driving Wheels toindicate the ELIHU KNAPP,

Seconds and minutes by a continuous ino- SARAH WV. POINDEXTER.

